Buffalo Trace Releases New Batch of 25-Year-Old O.F.C. Bourbon from 1993

Buffalo Trace 1993 Vintage O.F.C. Bourbon
Buffalo Trace 1993 Vintage O.F.C. Bourbon.

A new release of super-rare O.F.C. bourbon from Buffalo Trace will be released next month. Just 822 bottles of the 1993 Vintage O.F.C. Bourbon will be released this year, all set in crystal and copper decanters as in previous releases.

Buffalo Trace’s tasting notes for this whiskey describe it as having “a nose of dark cherry, honey, and smoked oak. On the palate, notes of caramel, toasted vanilla, and cocoa are found. For the finish, coffee, maple syrup and oak linger.”

O.F.C. refers to the Old Fashioned Copper Distillery, which sat on the land where Buffalo Trace currently resides in 1870.

“It’s hard to believe that the same year this bourbon was made, in 1993, the world wide web was just becoming a ‘thing,’ and introduced to the public domain,” said master distiller Harlen Wheatley in a press release. “Now when you think of how far everything has come, from a technology standpoint to bourbon’s popularity again, it’s mind blowing. What’s really amazing is how solid this bourbon is, and how the taste and integrity have held up. It’s a real tribute to Elmer and Gary Gayheart and the rest of the team at the Distillery for this vintage to have this consistency and taste this good after aging for 25 years.”

While this is only the second time O.F.C bourbons have been available to the public, this is actually the third release of O.F.C., as three vintages were released in 2016 and donated to non-profit organizations. Those bottles of 1980, 1982, and 1983 whiskey were auctioned last Spring, according to Buffalo Trace, “and raised nearly $1.2 million for a variety of causes such as cancer services, cystic fibrosis, leukemia and lymphoma, children’s rights, autism, military veterans, animal protection, arts foundations, and many more.”

If you’re lucky enough to find one of these bottles at retail price, you can expect to pay around $2,500. But we expect most of them to end up priced much higher, even before secondary markets. More information about the O.F.C. line can be found here.

G. Clay Whittaker
Clay is Editor at Large of The Bourbon Review. He has written about whiskey, food, drink, and culture for Esquire, Playboy, Men's Journal, Popular Science, Southern Living, Maxim, among others.